My Studio*

The Final Series!

Slow Dancing in a Burning Room

Music & Dance are other forms of poetry as well as major passions of mine. There's nothing like listening to a song or watching a great performance so powerful that you get goosebumps all over your body. The collaboation of those with various forms of artistic abilites coming together to make masterpieces. I love it!

For a Narrative project I illustrated a song called "Slow Dancing in a Burning Room" written by the ever so talented John Mayer. This song deals with the concept of love and the struggle you endure when holding on to a relationship that may be past the point of replenishing. To me his lyrics are relatable, authentic and memorable.

(Here's a link to an amazing peformance on "So you think you can Dance" to my song of choice)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNLQqarTxfQ

"So you think you can dance" is one of my favourite shows and has always inspired me to make images. In the beginning I was set on taking a theatrical approach to this project, grasping a connection between the human figures through movements in dance. Shown above are my gestural paintings to get me started with the project. The more I started to think about using enviornments, backdrops or props the more I started making a connection to the patterns & rhythms in nature. Natural disasters came to mind, something that can be both beautiful and intriguing yet intense and destructive. By relating each verse in the song to nature I created an anagorical essense of my take on his words the images started to take on a whole other direction and I ended up with a series of five paintings!

My Favourite*****

Wind and Life

Blow sweet breath of wind

And take me like a leaf departing home

Speak to me from the sky

And place me where you will upon the ground

Wash my eyes with blue horizons

As you paint me in your grand design

Then weave me in your tapestry of air

And let me breathe with love

So, to when you test me with your coldness

I triumph with the warmth that’s in my heart

Follow me and lead me as I wander

Take me to the edge so I might see

Then whistle to me from the inner woods

Where droplets kiss the earth around my feet

And beams cascade and lead me to the clearing

Where I can take my part in natures play

And run forever on her theme

John Pedley

March 8, 02

I absolutely love this poem and had to share it with you all! The possibilities to illustrating this poem are endless. The references to mother nature makes for just stunning mental imagery. The perfect subject matter for me!

(Click on the images below if you'd like to read more of John's poetry!)

Printed & Ready!

The Final Product

Here is the final outcome! Lots of sweat and tears went into this book:) Blue Horizons is not completely finished yet. I still plan on searching for more of John's poems to illustrate in the coming months!

(Click on images to see them larger)

Rough Work

Here are a few of my sketches for the book....

Thesis Project

For my thesis project at Sheridan College I wanted to design a book capturing the poetry written by John Pedley, a family member who had passed away in 2009. The poems had been found on pieces of loose paper in old boxes and I thought his beautiful words deserved some justice. My goal was to create a keepsake that would touch the hearts of my family and friends.

The picture above was my first attempt at illustrating one of my favorite poems of his called “Wind & Life”. I wanted to experiment with a new media so I started painting on large wood panels. Since John's poetry has a very soft earthy tone, I thought using the natural grains of the wood complimented it well. At first I struggled with self-editing and finding the threads that run throughout my work. However with the help of my amazing teachers, I began to find my creative sensibility. After crossing a stepping-stone in my artwork I started to make powerful images that represented me best!